I was working in Calabassas, a neighborhood dangerously close to the fires that are currently raging in Malibu, about six months ago. There are a lot of homes out there. I sincerely hope everyone in the affected areas (seven counties!) is safe and can only hope the fires are contained soon before more homes are affected.

My friend Lilla in Del Mar Heights (immediately east of I-5 at Del Mar) was evacuated this morning along with her cats. She's tucked up at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, & it sounds like things are basically OK there. There was some discussion earlier in the day about moving people out of there down to Qualcomm, but that doesn't seem to be necessary.

Her daughter Suzi has one major fire to the west of her & another to the northeast. She's in the middle of about a 5 mile radius area that hasn't been evacuated, where everything around it has -- just east of I-15 near Ted Williams Pkwy. (Personally, I think I would have packed up the animals & bailed long since!) She's ready to go as necessary, but figuring she'll stay put til they say to go. She did already send her kids to stay with their dad, who's further out of range. She was telling me about an inch of soot outside of her front door, & that the air quality there is pretty awful, even staying indoors.

Apparently one of the big problems with the winds being so bad is that they're not able to use aircraft to dump water & retardant -- the planes are just getting blown around so badly. They have a decent number of that kind of craft loaded Up & ready to go. The prevailing hope is that the winds will die down enough overnight that they can get out & do some dumping.

BTW, Suzi also said that cell & landline phone service is "off & on" -- a lot of "all circuits busy" more than actual outages.And that lots of businesses are closed.

We have friends who were evacuated from the Lake Arrowhead area. They just moved into a brand new home, and have a newborn as well.

I'm trying to find out about some friends in San Diego County (not sure where, exactly), and Jennifer has relatives that live near Chula Vista, Escondido, and other areas that are most certainly impacted by this .

All reports we've read say that these fires are no joke.

The L.A. Times has a link to a Google Map of the current blazes. Just unbelievable.

My best friend from chula vista just text me that they are starting evacuations in the area as the fires are 4 miles away and wind shifted to their directions...ugh...my prayers to all in so cal going through this incredible chain of events.

The Guinness. & family are doing fine. The Santa Ana winds are actually doing us a great service. There is only the scent of fire and no smoke.

(for now, in Del Cerro/San Carlos) I'm about 15 miles south of the Witch fire and 20 miles north of the Harris fire. Due to the size of these fires we should be covered in ash/embers. Strong gusts of westward winds are keeping us safe though. However, I'd really prefer the winds to die down and be covered in smoke/ash just to make it easier for the fire crews when fighting these fires.

My office in Santee (due to air quality) is closed tomorrow so I'll be dropping off some food and blankets at Qualcomm. On a plus side, they (the Q) actually requested donations to stop for the night today and restart tomorrow. The concern was preserving the excess food. It's nice to know that I live in a community that cares when it counts!

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone facing this crisis. Good luck.

edit changed dilemma to crisis. It is much more a crisis than it is a dilemma.

my brother got thru on the cell to say that he got sent home from work (clairemont mesa), but that was just precautionary. our mom lives out in the mountains near julian and they had her go to alpine. all the schools are closed and unnecessary driving is being discouraged.Larry was someone i knew in the '80's and i hope he's gonna be OK.

Originally posted by emmaMy friend Lilla in Del Mar Heights (immediately east of I-5 at Del Mar) was evacuated this morning along with her cats. She's tucked up at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, & it sounds like things are basically OK there. ...

Originally posted by emmaHer daughter Suzi has one major fire to the west of her & another to the northeast. She's in the middle of about a 5 mile radius area that hasn't been evacuated, where everything around it has -- just east of I-15 near Ted Williams Pkwy. ...

Latest update is that Suzi was finally told to evacuate. We haven't heard where she's landed yet. (If she has any sense at all, she'll be showing up on the doorstep here in Phoenix in the next few hours.) We did hear from Lilla at Del Mar Fairgrounds -- mostly they just have no information, so they have to call to Arizona to try to get status. But there really isn't much forthcoming to tell them.

Sounds like the Chargers game sunday will be either moved to Tempe or Phoenix due to the fires. My thoughts are with the people being affected by these fires. Does anybody know how some of these fires started?

(edited by CajunMan on 23.10.07 1351)

(edited by CajunMan on 23.10.07 1352)I'm CajunMan and I approve this message.

Several Orange County areas are being evacuated. But the fire here is apparently ARSON!

"I'm sad to report this is an arson fire," said Orange County Fire Authority Chief Chip Prather. "There were three separate starts: two on one side of the road and one on the other, and obviously we are actively investigating that."

Why ANYONE would be sick enough to ADD to this disaster is beyond me and I hope this latest fire gets contained quickly.

Lilla's back to her house in Del Mar Heights -- she & cats are both happy to be home. She's got some downed trees & branches & such around her area, but nothing more than a bad wind storm.

Sounds like everything at their evacuation center was very well organized, & went as smoothly as sleeping on cots possibly could go. Sounded like everybody there had their assorted animals with them -- one family with 10 Burmese cats, birds, dogs, everything. A lot of people with dogs had exercise pens set up, & everybody was getting along just famously. There were volunteer doctors & nurses looking after anybody with health considerations, & even vet techs wandering around helping out with the animals. You don't *want* to have to go to an evacuation center, but it's good to know that if you need to, they can be run well.

We haven't heard from Suzi since yesterday, when she was heading off to Qualcomm. So, we're still waiting for her to check back in.Update 10/24 @ 11:30 --Finally heard from Suzi -- she got back to her house late this morning. No details yet, although her cats are happy to be out of their crates!

(edited by emma on 24.10.07 1225)FYI, excerpt from Suzi's report from the "campout" at Qualcomm's parking lot:

Once we got settled there it was fine. The cats stressed, but they were safe in their carriers, and I let them out into our tent at times. I could not believe how much stuff was supplied there - Everything! We were actually quite comfortable, except for the smoke and ash raining on us... But the support from local businesses and restaurants, as well as grocery store chains, Walmart, Petco, etc - I don't think anyone needed anything to keep themselves tidy for a few days. Just think of Rite-Aid being dumped in piles on the picnic tables. They even had entertainment - a troup of pirates on stilts, a local band (I didn't hear them), lots of arts & crafts and clowns for kids - and tons of food. Geez, you evacuate for a fire and come back home 10 pounds heavier! They had cooked food, too, and of course everything that is wrapped in plastic. I drank about 2 gallons of water each day - which I usually don't do - but it was so hot and dry. The weather really is not helping the Firefighters' efforts.

We were staying out in the parking lot, amidst a see of Boy Scouts-donated 2-person tents. Some people knew how to evacuate in style - the huge RV's, big tents, etc. But we were OK - we used from the donation pile (literally 10 foot high piles): 2 camping chairs, a thick foam pad and 6 blankets to sleep on, a new sleeping bag (we brought our own blankets, but it got surprisingly cold at night), several more blankets for Sparky outside of the tent, a dog water dish, several pillows, and a couple of sheets we ended up using as a canopy and for Sparky to lie on top of. The day temps are still 90 degrees.

The arsonist that caused the Orange County fire has been caught. Unfortunately, the big bad arsonist responsible for over 38,000 burned acres and 21 lost homes...turned out to be a a kid playing with matches. The kid says it was all an accident.

Damn, and I was ready to wield my pitchfork wildly.

Now what happens? You obviously can't throw the kid in jail. The only solution I can think of is that the parents of this kid should be forced to pay punitive damages to the homeowners. But I certainly can't think of any other ideas.

When I was a wee little kid, I played with fire... like setting the front yard of fire to watch my GIJoes melt, I got an ass-wuppin!

I was like 7 or 8, if I remember right, and I knew better. I just let it get out of hand and my mom beat the living shit outta me.

This kid is 12. His parents say he feels 'really bad' about what happened. I think that's bullshit. He's probably bragging about it at school, just I did with the front yard. His little ass knew what he was doing. Hold that little fucker responsible, I say. Send him to Juvie Hall or something for a few months at least. Do a 'Scared Straight' on him, or he might get worse when he gets older.